


Nothing Is Going To Change

by Mdeezy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Confessing of feelings, First Date, Flashbacks, Galaxy Garrison, Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, M/M, Minor Keith/Shiro (Voltron), POV Third Person Omniscient, Slight mentions of PTSD, Some angst, bi lance, character introspectives, hunk is the best, its in the past, its just a crush don't worry, lots of flashbacks, mischievous Pidge, supportive friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-18 05:31:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8150819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mdeezy/pseuds/Mdeezy
Summary: Lance outs himself as bisexual by shamelessly flirting with aliens. This is the aftermath.





	1. Confess

“I just don’t get it!” Lance huffed, arms spread wide like a caricature of his usual self.

He was pacing the lower-level control deck in long languid strides, venting at Allura while she quietly tapped coordinates onto a translucent screen.

“We were doing so well before and now he finds out one silly thing and he won’t even look at me! Like, who does he think he is anyway? What gives him the right to judge me? As if he’s any better. I mean, honestly Princess. And don’t even get me _started_ on the mullet…”

Lance continued on in this fashion for several clicks more than was strictly necessary.

About a week ago Lance had expressed interest in several non-female presenting lifeforms, thus outing himself to the team as bisexual, and Keith had not taken the news lightly.

He was alone in that sentiment though. 

Hunk was sweet and supportive, as always; Shiro an unwavering pillar of support. Pidge had teased Lance at first, but never enough to be mean-spirited and Allura and Coran, who were part of a culture that experienced sexuality much differently than their human companions, were not the least bit surprised or concerned. They all just wanted him to be happy.

It didn’t make much of a difference though. Keith and Lance had made great strides in their friendship after several months of bickering and it was the red paladin’s approval that Lance longed for the most. It crushed him that he couldn’t seem to receive it.

Keith had made himself very scarce since the incident. He spent almost all of his free time in the training room and would not look at or speak to Lance directly. He was not outwardly hostile, but it was as if the two of them had taken several giant leaps back. Lance, understandably, had a hard time seeing it as anything short of a betrayal.

Naturally, the princess had thoughts on the matter, but she just continued typing and waited patiently for Lance to wear himself out.

“I mean, he was fine with Pidge being a girl and he doesn’t have any problems with you or the Balmerans or Arusians or any other alien race. Why does he suddenly have a problem with me? Just because I like boys _and_ girls? That’s dumb. It’s just how I feel. Not like I can help it or anything, ya know?”

Allura did know. She still didn’t say anything.

Taking her silence as permission to continue, Lance sighed heavily and slid down to the floor next to her. He looked just as sad and lost as he felt.

“It’s just...we were finally starting to get along. I thought, maybe…” he rested his chin on his knees, looking like he was holding back angry tears. “I don’t know. I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything better from _Keith_.”

Allura looked down at him for a moment and then back at her screen.

Satisfied that he had now gotten everything out of his system, she finally spoke.

“Now, I do not pretend to know everything of your human customs, _but_ ,” she paused meaningfully. “If I had to venture a guess, I would say that quite possibly Keith is just mad because he’s hopelessly in love with you and now you seem more attainable to him, thus confusing him and complicating his feelings further.”

Lance blinked up at her with wide, stupefied eyes.

She glanced back down at him and shrugged.

“At least that’s what the mice told me.”

This was finally enough to cut through the layers of tension that had been pooling around him for days. He snorted.

“Don’t believe everything you hear Princess.”

He wasn’t okay, but he was smiling again, and it was more than Allura could have hoped for. She silently sent up a prayer to her god and her father and whoever else might be listening that her paladins could find a way to work things out.

* * *

 

After his meeting with Allura Lance fell into his usual nightly ritual of aimlessly wandering the castle halls.

Lance was an explorer at heart. They all were really; you don’t end up in a government controlled space exploration program without a knack for adventure, but for Lance it went far deeper. Exploring wasn’t just for thrills like it was for Keith and Shiro and it wasn’t just for filling in the gaps in his understanding of things like for Hunk and Pidge. For him, it was quiet time away from his extensive family whenever he didn’t want them to see the emotions plainly written across his face. It was distracting himself from his usually restless nature. It was that magical feeling of looking upon something and knowing that not everyone has been lucky enough to see it, at least not in the way that you have. That was what he loved most about being a pilot. Everything familiar suddenly morphed into something new when viewed from above.

Plus, it meant he got to discover some pretty awesome hidey holes.

He actually felt surprisingly settled after talking to Allura. True, she was not the ideal confidante; nowhere near as good as his sister or older cousins, but she was certainly better than Hunk (he was too nice to ever be helpful). The princess knew exactly how to let him springboard ideas off of her without interrupting and provided just the right amount of humor to draw him out of his funk. The thought of the mullet king secretly pining after him like an anime girl waiting to be noticed by her senpai was ridiculous enough to put that signature spring back in Lance’s step.

Or it _was_ , until he practically crashed right into the boy in question.

“Watch where you’re going,” Keith said blandly.

His words were completely lacking any conviction. He looked and sounded dead inside. It was jarring. And the annoying part was that the apathy was directed solely at him. Keith had no problem chatting up the others and cracking a smile, but for Lance? Nothing.

It felt very juvenile to him, like the time cousin Fernando ate Jessica’s vegan tamale at Christmas and she had refused to talk to him again for a whole month.

The thing was, Lance _hadn’t_ eaten Keith’s tamale. He hadn’t done anything to him at all. Keith was just being a jerk for no reason.

And Lance was pretty sure he knew how to put an end to it.

“Heeeey Keeeith,” Lance said languidly. He draped an arm loosely over the other boy’s shoulder. “Just the paladin I wanted to see. You see,” he leaned in closer, gesturing between their two faces. “Rumor has it, somebody has a crush on ya boi Lance.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

He was certain that at any moment Keith would push him off and chastise him for being so ridiculous, but he just stiffened.

Confused, Lance backed away to get a good look at Keith’s face.

The mask of apathy was gone and in its place there was...shame? Desire?

“Keith?” Lance asked.

It was clear that his joke was not actually a joke, not to Keith.

Keith didn’t stick around to answer. He turned tail and ran.

* * *

 

“Wait. So you, you do like me?” Lance asked, slightly out of breath.

He shouldn’t have even been able to catch up to him. Keith was _fast_ , but Lance knew the layout of the castle better. His mouth was also hanging open like that of a dead fish, but Keith could not take satisfaction in it when his stomach was so tied up in knots.

Keith sighed and reached up to smooth out the tension between his eyebrows. It was an accusatory gesture that seemed to say that this conversation was somehow causing him physical pain. Which it was.

“I don’t know,” Keith said, looking at Lance through slotted fingers. His words were muffled behind his upturned hand.

“Maybe.” he let his hand drop back down. “A little bit.”

Lance made absolutely no attempt to disguise his shock and Keith tried not to take it personally.

Emphasis on the word tried.

“Don’t look at me like that!” Keith glared.

“I’m not doing anything!” Lance shouted back, a slight flush creeping up his neck.

“Don’t make things weird, man.” Keith grumbled, fists clenching at his sides. His pale cheeks were red and he just wanted this entire conversation to be over.

“ _Me_ make things weird? _You_ just told me that you like me!” Lance exploded.

Keith winced a bit, worried about what the others might think if they overheard.

What Shiro might think.

Not that long ago, Shiro’s opinion would have been all Keith cared about, but these days he was basically drowning in a sea of dark skin and angry blue eyes and he didn’t know what to do about it. He met those eyes now and silenced the erratic stuttering of his heart. It was all too easy to put steel into his gaze and venom in his throat. Anger was good. Familiar. It felt much safer then whatever else he was feeling at least, and Keith clung to it.

“And what if I do like you, huh Lance? How does that make things weird? Please, since you know all there is to know about everything, how about you enlighten me?”

Lance was openly spluttering and he seemed completely at a loss.

Keith hated this. He would rather fight off an invading army single-handedly then spend one single moment here, stripped bare in front of another human being. He could feel the weight of Lance’s stare like a brick in his esophagus.

“It’s not like I don’t know how you feel about me,” Keith continued after a moment. “You think we’re stuck in a permanent competition. Rivals.”

Keith said the word with enough anger that Lance actually flinched.

Keith took in a breath. His whole body was shaking slightly.

“Yeah, you’re bi, and yeah I’m attracted to you, but _you_ don’t like _me_. You _hate_ me, remember? So nothing’s going to come of it Lance. Nothing’s gonna magically change. Everything is exactly the same as it always has been and nothing is weird. Just let it go.”

Keith’s entire face was aflame, but he felt infinitely lighter with his unspoken thoughts out in the open. Well, light and also tired, as if a strong gust of wind was bound to sweep him up any second.

“I don’t hate you.” Lance whispered suddenly.

The skin at the nape of Keith’s neck prickled and he jerked his head upward.

“What?”

“I don’t hate you,” Lance said again, stepping closer. “I’ve never hated you. I-I admired you. I was jealous.”

“ _Jealous_? Of me?”

Keith shook his head. His brow furrowed the way it did when he didn’t completely understand the punchline of a joke.

Lance shrugged. “Of course I was jealous. Best pilot, top of the class, cute, mysterious. Practically every girl in our class had a crush on you.”

Keith stared at him like he’d sprouted a second head, which he hadn’t. (That’s a pretty valid concern out here in deep space).

“And then,” Lance continued. “When I realized that I liked boys I started to wonder if I just wanted to _be_ you or be _with_ you.”

They were both blushing now. Keith wanted to turn his face away from the intensity in Lance’s gaze and run in the other direction, like he did in the face of all genuine emotions, but shock and curiosity kept him rooted in place.

Also, Lance had already caught up to him once so it seemed kind of redundant.

“I mean, I don’t think I ever really rationalized it before; It’s not really something I actively chose to think about.” Lance took another step forward and looked down at his feet.

“If I hated you then I didn’t have to worry about it, you know? It was dumb, and pretty unfair to you, but I was so jealous that it was easy. I guess I even convinced myself.” He was rubbing a hand along the back of his neck nervously.

“Lance…” Keith whispered.

There was a bewildered sort of awe in his voice. His pulse was heavy and his palms were sweating and didn’t have the slightest idea how to handle any of it. He began leaning in without even realizing he was doing it.

Lance drew in a sharp breath and leaned away. Keith’s stomach plummeted out beneath him and he tensed, but Lance grabbed hold of his wrist before he could run away again. He squeezed that tiny stretch of skin for all it was worth. It sent a spike of warmth up Keith’s spine.

In a jumbled mess of words, Lance finally spoke, “Not now, okay? I-I want time to sort some things out and I don’t want to cause problems for the rest of the team, but I guess what I’m trying to say is...maybe I like you a little bit too.”

The two boys stared at each other for several moments, full of nerves and vulnerability and hope.

Lance was the first to look away. “I’m gonna go see if Hunk needs help with dinner,” he said sheepishly, dropping Keith’s wrist and pushing past him down the corridor. He was quick to shove his hands into his jacket pockets, but Keith did not miss the slight tremor.

Keith watched him go. There was a blurry fuzzy feeling working its way up his toes and fingertips all the way into his core. He didn’t quite know what to make of it.

Slowly, as if drugged, he managed to drag one heavy foot in front of the other all the way to his bedroom and lock himself inside.


	2. Reflect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Voltron reflects on past memories while adjusting to the idea of Keith and Lance's budding romance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up that I decided to use she/her pronouns for Pidge. I know that makes some people uncomfortable and I totally respect that. Feel free to skip this if that's the case.

Shiro remembered the first time he ever laid eyes on Keith Kogane. At the time, he had seemed to be little more than a dead-eyed flying machine with an attitude problem.

Shiro had liked him immediately.

It wasn’t the stats or the mysterious exterior that interested him. Those were surface things, easily ignored. It was the fact that Keith simply wasn’t anything like all of the other dreamy and idealistic students in the space program. Keith was a rogue. He hadn’t come there because he wanted to learn, but because he had nothing to lose. There was fire inside of him; intense and all-consuming. It made him sharper. It made him efficient.

It made him dangerous.

Keith didn’t care about much, but the things he did care about, he would burn down the whole world to protect.

Shiro was the only one who seemed to recognize this quality in him. All of their teachers thought he was too unruly to be taught. A know-nothing from nowhere with a lucky break that he wasn’t even grateful for. It wasn’t until Shiro stepped in and started teaching him that Keith truly started to blossom and grow, as did their friendship. 

It was a mutually beneficial relationship. Keith provided a much needed challenge to overcome and Shiro acted as an anchor, a reason to color inside the lines. For a while, both of them thrived.

Then Shiro was graduating.

He was the top of his class and first in line for a whole bevy of exploratory missions. Soon enough, there was nothing else he could do for Keith but to wish him well and promise to always have each other’s backs.

Now Shiro could hardly look at Keith without feeling a pang of regret. He knew it was stupid, but he felt like he had broken that promise somehow. He hadn’t been there when Keith needed him. 

Keith was as big a part of Shiro’s old life as his new one, a facet holding his two halves together around that nightmarish gash in the middle. His other teammates, though he loved them dearly, only knew the legend, the Shiro who had survived. Keith had seen his before and after and that could not be ignored.

And there was another thing about Keith that simply could not be ignored.

His exponentially increasing attraction toward Lance.

It could have been mistaken as general discomfort with Lance’s sexuality at first, but not anymore. Keith and Lance had quite clearly gone from purposeful and angry avoidance to awkward pining from afar. It was pretty hard to misinterpret.

To be fair, Lance, was the more obvious of the two, always blushing and sputtering whenever Keith walked into a room, but Keith had his moments as well. The boy already had a staring problem, but now Keith stared as if his eyes were a compass and the back of Lance’s head was the north pole. He kept his face mostly blank while doing this. The average observer probably wouldn’t have even noticed the underlying admiration hidden within his gaze, but Shiro was used to being on the receiving end of Keith’s stares and he knew exactly how to interpret them.

Keith rarely allowed himself to want anything, but he _wanted_ Lance. He wanted him bad. Shiro was sure of it.

He was a little disappointed Keith hadn’t tried talking to him about it, but he wasn’t going to push. Keith had always had trouble expressing his feelings; Shiro understood that better than anybody. He just had to make sure that both of their heads stayed on straight throughout the transition process. He wasn’t about to let this _thing_ brewing between them jeopardize the safety of the team or each other.

Several days later, those fears were legitimized while Coran was running a training simulation.  

Keith and Lance were fighting back to back, perfectly in sync, their collaborative efforts made even more amazing by the fact that they couldn’t even hold a civil conversation several months ago, but that’s not what tipped Shiro off.

It was when Coran unleashed the robot.

Keith froze up almost instantly. Shiro could recognize that glazed over look anywhere, both because he knew Keith and because he was prone to flashbacks himself. It was clear that Keith’s mind was a million miles away, locked up inside a previous encounter, all while a dangerous robotic combatant was advancing on him.

Shiro shouted a warning, but Lance didn’t even need it.

He couldn’t have had more than a second to register the robot’s presence before he had vaulted between Keith’s legs and barreled right into it.

That seemed to snap Keith out of his trance.

“Lance!” He shouted.

Lance sprung to his feet and jumped out of the way just in time for Keith to bring the sharp edge of his blade down onto the robot, neatly decapitating it.

“Simulation Passed,” a mechanical voice rang out.

Lance was breathing hard, Keith too, but for less physical reasons. Lance had his arm around Keith’s waist in a way that seemed to suggest that he was privy to the reason for Keith’s momentary slip up. There was no celebratory whoop or good-natured teasing. Lance merely whispered something in Keith’s ear which seemed to elicit the tiniest of smiles.

Shiro chewed the inside of his lip contemplatively. Apparently there was more trust there than he had realized.  

Hunk, and Pidge shared a look with each other and then with Shiro.

“Uh, should we tell them they’re perfect for each other?” Hunk asked, completely sincere.

Shiro stepped out from behind them and fixed them with a look of his own.

“It’s not our business,” he said, completely disregarding the fact that he was planning on telling Keith exactly that.

“But, don’t you think there’s something going on there?” Hunk pressed.

“Oh, I know there is,” Shiro said, but he refused to elaborate. He merely looked down at the lovebirds in question with a small smile.

Shiro was happy for them. He really was.

He just hoped this wasn’t going to blow up in all of their faces.

 

* * *

 

 

“Has he ever mentioned anything about it?” 

Pidge was perched atop the kitchen counter, legs dangling, while Hunk dutifully mixed and mashed various types of goo into a giant metal bowl.

Hunk thought about it for a moment. “Nope. Definitely not. I mean, not unless you count trash talking as confessions of love.”

Pidge shrugged. “Lance doesn’t always say exactly what he’s thinking. Usually he just projects his insecurities onto others.”

“Uh, yeah. I noticed.” Hunk offered her a spoon to taste. “Lance isn’t as dumb as he looks. You know that. He’ll tell us what’s going on eventually.”

Pidge squinted at the proffered spoon and stuck it into her mouth.

“I guesh,” she said around the metal. She removed it and handed it back while sloshing the goop around on her tongue. “This needs more salt.”

Hunk nodded and continued his food preparation in contented silence while Pidge turned her attention to her computer.

She was searching for her family, same as always. Based on her calculations, there were hundreds of thousands of possible places her dad and brother might have ended up. It was just a matter of sorting through the most and least probable options; like a giant logic puzzle, only with monumental stakes and massive consequences for guessing wrong. Sometimes she would sort through data for hours on end without even realizing.

This was not destined to be one of those times, however.

A loud crashing noise alerted her to someone else’s presence in the kitchen. She looked up to find Lance hovering curiously over Hunk’s shoulder, several chunks of red goo splattered over his jacket.

“Sorry, man,” he was saying. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Let me help you clean that up.”

Hunk brushed off his hands on his apron and began wiping up the mess from the spilled bowl. “No bro. It’s cool. What’s up?”

Lance shot Pidge a significant look. Pidge stared right back. No way she was missing out on the juicy details.

“Anything you wanted to tell us, lover boy?” She asked. She couldn’t help herself.

Lance grimaced, but didn’t deny the accusation. Instead, he maneuvered himself around Hunk and the fallen bowl of goo with long and graceful Lance-like strides.

Lance had a way of occupying more space than he should for such a thin and lanky individual. Pidge had met a lot of powerful and successful people in her life, but very few of them could walk into a room and completely fill it up the way that Lance did.

He paused with one bony hip pressed into the side of the countertop between his friends, his body cocked just slightly to the side so that Pidge could see most of his expression.

“Whatcha working on?” he asked, nodding at her computer screen.

“Research,” she said, not really wanting to explain.

Lance nodded like he knew exactly what she meant anyway. It wasn’t surprising. Pidge knew that Lance missed his sister just as much as she missed her brother. He’d talked about her all the time when they were at the Garrison, heck she was probably the subject of the first non-shallow conversation Pidge and Lance had ever had.

The memory made her smile. It was easy to forget sometimes that back before the magical space lions, the three of them used to be a team. The only difference was that back then, Pidge had a slew of secrets holding her back. Secrets that she never thought she’d be able to share with anybody, much less these two idiots. Now she could barely even imagine life without them. They’d finally gelled in a way they never could back in school. If only their professors could see them now.

“So, what did you want to talk to us about?” Hunk asked after regaining control of the bowl situation.

Lance leaned back against the counter and braced himself against it with the flat of his palms. “Nothing. I just wanted to see what you guys were up to.”

Pidge, being both exceedingly perceptive and exceedingly teasing, refused to let him have the distraction he was looking for.

“In that case, we were just talking about when you were gonna work up the nerve to smooch Keith,” she said smugly.

Lance paled and looked over at Hunk for a sign that she was kidding. Hunk only shrugged and said, “It’s cool dude. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Lance threw his hands up in the air. “There’s nothing to talk about! How did you guys even find out?”

“Shiro,” they said simultaneously.

Lance slumped. “Frig. Is it really that obvious?”

“Yep,” said Pidge.

“Definitely,” Hunk agreed.

Lance slid his head into his hands with a groan. Hunk shuffled over and patted him on the back.

“Relax man, we’re your friends. Whatever happens between you two we just want you both to be happy.”

Pidge couldn’t help rolling her eyes at the sappiness of the sentiment, but she nodded her agreement anyway.

“I don’t even know _what’s_ happening between us. We haven’t talked about it. I don’t even think we’re compatible,” Lance complained.

Pidge couldn’t help snorting at that. 

“Dude,” Hunk said meaningfully, “The two of you are like, made for each other.”

Lance peeked up. “Do you really think so?”

Hunk held up his fingers and started counting. “Red and blue, fire and ice, uptight and laid back. Yeah, I think you balance out okay.”

“Opposites attract,” Pidge added, waggling her eyebrows.

“But we don’t have anything in common!” Lance argued.

Pidge cast Hunk a withering look. 

“You’re both super annoying.”

“You’re both really good pilots.”  

“You’re both completely obsessed with each other.”

“You both like my goo teriyaki chicken.”

They shot things off one by one in rapid succession until Lance clamped his hands over their mouths.

“Okay. I get it!” He shouted. “But what do I do about it?”

Hunk was looking at him like he had suddenly morphed into a completely new person.

“Dude, just go out and do what you do to every other attractive lifeform in close proximity. Go flirt with him and tell him how you feel.”

“But--

“The only butt you should be thinking about belongs to a particularly grumpy red paladin.” Pidge interjected thoughtfully.

Hunk was clearly trying not to laugh at her terrible pun.

Lance was too frazzled to even comment on it. “I just don’t know, guys. I mean, I think I like him, but it’s different from anything else I’ve ever felt before. I just...don’t know.”

“Does your heart beat faster when you’re around him?” Hunk asked.

“Yes.”

“Do you wanna touch his muscles?” Pidge added much less tactfully.

“I mean, I--

“Do you feel all warm and happy whenever you’re alone together? Like the two of you could take on the entire world.”

“Y-yeah.”

Hunk was smiling ear to ear. “Then you do know. All you have to do is go out and get him.”

Lance was smiling in a reserved sort of way that Pidge had never seen before. She would have teased him for it if he didn’t look so adorable.

“Yeah,” he said softly. “I guess I do.”

 

* * *

 

 

Keith was lying on the training room floor, body slick with a thin layer of sweat. He knew that he should probably get up and shower and get on with the rest of his day, but the mat beneath him was soft and he couldn’t be bothered to move.

That was how Shiro found him, sprawled on the floor with his arms behind his head like a king, a contented smile plastered all over his face.

“Look at you,” he said with an amused whistle. “If I didn’t know any better I’d say the the incomparable Keith Kogane is actually _happy_.” Shiro plopped down into a sitting position and Keith swatted at him.

“Shut up,” he said, but they were both smiling.

Every time Keith saw that smile there was a brief moment of disorientation in which all he could see was the cheerfully confident tour guide leading him through the halls of the Galaxy Garrison. It had been clear that Shiro loved everything about it, that he believed in the work they were doing and wanted to use the information to help people. 

Keith, on the other hand, had only applied for the room and board, plus the added bonus of getting to fly. It was a very selfish pursuit. Shiro had never been discouraged though. It didn’t matter how many blank stares or one word answers Keith gave. None of it could change the magical sense of purpose he felt, and none of it changed the way that he treated him. To Shiro, Keith wasn’t mysterious or intimidating; he was just a pilot. A roommate. A friend.

But Shiro was never _just_ anything. Not to Keith. To Keith, Shiro was everything.

It had started out innocent enough, a mild crush on a heroic senior, but then he was gone. Lost to the depths of space. And nobody would tell him why or how. 

Keith had gone off the deep end.

He refused to participate in classes or simulations. He refused to obey his instructors, and when he inevitably found out about the nature of Shiro’s disappearance and what the Garrison was doing to cover it all up, he stole a hover glider and disappeared into the night.

Then, just as suddenly as he had been lost, Shiro had returned. He was older and wearier, covered in scars, but he was alive.

All of Keith’s old feelings came rushing back.

Then in swept Lance. A boy who was vaguely familiar, but completely unremarkable, appearing out of nowhere and demanding to help save the day.

Keith had never been so annoyed and intrigued in his life. That was Lance in nutshell. He was a disaster. A car crash you just couldn’t look away from. 

Only he wasn’t as bad as he seemed. He was actually incredibly brave. It wasn’t the innate kind of bravery Shiro had or the reckless bravery that he himself possessed. It was a more conscious type of bravery. A bravery that required him to keep his wits and ignore the fact that he was terrified out of his mind and do whatever needed to be done anyway. Keith found it oddly endearing.

_Maybe I like you too._

It wasn’t until Lance had uttered those words that Keith realized, he hadn’t thought of Shiro in a romantic way in a very long time. The feeling had shaken him pretty badly. It was like ripping away a band-aid only to realize that you’d forgotten what your skin even looked like underneath.

Even now, studying him in detail, Keith couldn’t muster up those old feelings of desire.

“You’re thinking pretty loud over there,” Shiro said after enduring a good moment of ogling. “Care to enlighten me?”

Keith propped himself up on his elbow and met Shiro’s eyes.

“I was thinking about the first time we met,” he said truthfully.

Shiro laughed, a big proper laugh, straight from his belly.

“Oh, that was a fun day. I think I must’ve talked at you for three hours straight before I could get you to say a single word.”

Keith’s smile deepened. “Yeah, well. Maybe I just like the sound of your voice.”

It was so easy for him to say now that the fantasy was broken. It didn’t feel like an awkward and painful attempt at flirting. It felt like exactly what it was. Banter between friends.

That fact emboldened him.

An emboldened Keith was a very dangerous thing.

Shiro seemed to know this though. He only smiled and changed the subject to something more tame.

They talked about battle strategy and old classes and things they missed about Earth for far longer than it probably felt like and by the end they were both crying from laughter.

It was so easy.

“Can I ask you something?” Shiro asked suddenly.

Keith’s smile flattened out slightly, but he nodded. Sweat was beginning to pool between his skin and the mat beneath him. _We’ll always have each other’s backs_ , he reminded himself. 

“Do you like Lance?” 

The words whooshed through Keith’s pores and into his body, but they didn’t hurt the way that he’d expected them to.

He turned his head to the side and regarded his oldest friend for a moment. There was no judgement or worry on his face. He looked like he already knew the answer.

So Keith said yes.

Shiro’s smile went wide and his large white teeth practically burst out of his mouth. He clapped Keith on the back like a proud football coach.

Keith scowled. “Nothing is going to change. Wipe that look off your face.”

Shiro composed himself, but his happiness was still vibrant and infectious.

It gave Keith the nerve to say the words he had never said before.

“It used to be you I had a crush on.” He felt the warmth in his cheeks as soon as the words were out, but it was too late to take them back.

“I figured.” Shiro smiled. “Thanks for finally telling me.”

Keith laughed and plopped back down on his back. His entire body felt alive and full of possibilities. He was a clean slate, ready for something new.

 

Back in his room there was a letter. It was seated very carefully on top of his bed and encased in a baby blue envelope. Keith crossed the room and held it between his palms for a solid minute before finally summoning the courage to open it. 

He read over the contents twice before setting the note gently onto his bedside table and crawling under the covers. 

He went to sleep with an involuntary smile plastered onto his face. It was a smile so bright that it could have melted the sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading my trash! *Sighs* One more chapter to go!
> 
> Feel free to address any questions, comments, or concerns to @retoondant on tumblr.


	3. Commit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance do the thing. (No, not that thing you pervs)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This didn't turn out exactly the way that I wanted it to, but hey, *shrugs* I still like it.

****“Hold still!” Hunk fussed.

He was down on his knees at the foot of Lance’s bed with a threaded needle pulled taught between his teeth.

“Hey man,”  Lance complained. “You’re the one who said I couldn’t go on a date in my street clothes.”

Hunk waved off his concerns and focused his attention on tying the perfect knot. It was a little bit difficult with his large fingers, but he managed just fine.

“Yeah well, unless you want blood splattered on your new outfit it’s probably best to listen to the guy with the needle. Just saying.”

Lance was decked out in a suit, or the Altean equivalent of a suit. Hunk and Pidge had dutifully scavenged it from a box of Coran’s old things the night before. The outfit consisted of a low cut navy waistcoat with ornate buttons and thick lapels, a salmon colored button down, and white slacks.

It was garishly large, but luckily for Lance, several years of knitting sweaters with his grandma had left Hunk just as adept at repairing clothing as he was machinery. He’d spent the better part of the afternoon pinning and tucking the garment into shape.

He just had to finish the pants and...

“Finished,” he said smugly, trimming the excess thread and rolling down Lance’s newly cuffed pant leg.

Lance looked at himself in the mirror and admired Hunk’s handywork with a grin. He let out a low snort.

“Ha. Thanks Hunk. I’d ask you how I look, but I already know I look good.”

The wink was a bit much, but Hunk smiled back anyway. He figured that cracking jokes was the only way Lance would get through the potentially embarrassing evening unscathed.

The plans had come together almost of their own accord. Lance and Keith were going to have dinner and hang out in one of Lance’s secret hiding places. Lance adamantly refused to tell them where it was exactly, but Hunk and Pidge had still helped him gather supplies. Pidge had even strung together some battery powered string lights. For ambiance.

It was all pretty adorable.

Hunk sat down on the corner of the bed. The frame creaked beneath him.

“You nervous bro?”

Lance visibly stiffened. “Me nervous? No way!”

There was an awkward silence. The two of them stared at each other so long that Lance’s eye to started twitching.

“Okay,” he admitted, placing his head into his hands. “Maybe I am nervous.”

Hunk patted him on the shoulder. “Dude. That’s a good thing. It just means you really care about him.”

Lance gave him a tiny thin lipped smile. “Thanks Hunk.”

The words were earnest and they made Hunk’s abnormally large heart squeeze.

The night before when Lance asked if he and Keith were good for each other Hunk had given possibly the most enthusiastic yes of his life. Hunk was a mechanic. He loved fixing things; and a lot of the time fixing things required attaching different parts together to make them both work better. Lance and Keith were totally the human equivalent of that. He would go find and put on a cheerleading outfit if that’s what it took to get them together.

It’d be hard to find one that fit, especially out in space, but he’d make it work.

There was a sudden rap on the door. Lance went still. A second later Pidge peeked her head in, hands over her eyes, asking if everyone was decent.

Lance laughed and invited her in. There was still a little bit of tension in his shoulders, but he seemed relieved to see her. She strode into the room and plopped down next to Hunk on the bed.

“I got you something,” she said, smirking wickedly and holding out her cupped hands.

Lance looked down at her. “I’m probably gonna regret asking, but what in the quiznak is it?”

She smiled and spread her palms wide to reveal a glittering gold and white bowtie.

Hunk immediately snatched it up to get a better look at it. The pattern of gold swirls etched into the fabric were inlaid with tiny circuits that would pass as embroidery to the untrained eye.

Hunk smiled and motioned for Lance to lean down so he could fasten it around his neck.

“I made it special for tonight,” Pidge said as Hunk finished tying it. “Try not to get it wet.”

Lance looked back at his reflection one more time. Hunk could see that he was debating between choked gratitude and skepticism about the type of “enhancement” Pidge had in mind.

“Thank you,” he said finally, his features smoothing out into gratitude. Pidge gave a toothy smile but didn’t say anything.

“6:45. Better get into position,” Hunk urged gently.

“Right,” Lance agreed, brushing invisible dirt off of his shoulder.

Hunk stood and gave his best friend a crushing hug. “I’ll be in my room later if you wanna talk about it,” he whispered into Lance’s ear.

Lance nodded his thanks and gave Pidge a quick fist bump on his way out.

“Get some,” she said, laughing at his tortured expression.

Lance shook his head in exasperation and then sauntered out of the room with mock bravado.

Hunk watched him go with sympathy butterflies burning a hole through his industrial stomach. Pidge sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder.

If things went wrong tonight Hunk didn’t know who would be more heartbroken, him or Lance.

* * *

 

Lance crawled into the small space hidden beneath the laundry room and paced the floor nervously. He was normally a very confident person, but now he was second guessing everything.

Was it dumb of him to share one of his sacred hiding spots? Would Keith even show up? What if he couldn’t find it? What if his directions weren’t good enough?

Lance looked around the tiny room. It was basically just a glorified crawl space, only slightly bigger than a king sized mattress, with a low sloped ceiling and cold metallic finish. It was just big enough to fit two people comfortably and it was Lance’s favorite hiding spot in the entire castle. Even Coran didn’t know it existed.

He had spent most of the previous evening transforming it from the cold metallic box it was when he’d found it into a cozy nest of pillows and blankets, each lugged down individually. The walls were draped in thick satiny red bedsheets and hastily constructed string lights courtesy of Pidge. They twinkled softly throughout the small room, providing the perfect amount of light to see by and reminding him of warm Christmas memories. In the middle of the floor sat a glinting silver serving tray with two stolen couch cushions on either side. He didn’t know what was inside the tray, just that Hunk had made it and it was supposedly delicious.

It looked like the coziest and most private five star restaurant Lance could’ve imagined.

What if Keith took one look at all of it and laughed?

Lance chewed his bottom lip.

He was seconds away from burning a hole through the floor with his pacing when he heard a quiet, tentative knock trickle down from ceiling above him.

Lance hurried over to the ceiling hatch and pulled the string that would reveal his secret chamber. Keith poked his head in. The sheer wonder and curiosity on his face immediately eased some of Lance’s worry as he reached up a hand to help guide his date through. Keith grabbed hold and swung his legs down into the hole, landing next to him on the soft blanketed floor with a graceful little hop.

“How’d you find this place?” he asked, letting go of Lance’s hand.

“It’s a secret,” Lance said. His heartbeat was booming in his ears.  

Keith narrowed his eyes. “Did you fall in?”

“No,” Lance huffed. “I gallantly plunged into the deep dark depths of the unknown in the pursuit of a great adventure.”

“Uh huh,” Keith said. He surveyed the room in a calculating sort of way that made Lance’s stomach flip. “Your letter said you wanted to talk to me. What did you want to talk about?”

Lance’s face went red and Keith smirked. This was apparently the reaction that he wanted. It was clear in that moment that they both knew exactly why they were there, but neither of them wanted to be the one to admit it.

Lance cleared his throat.

“Why don’t we just sit down and relax a bit first?” He suggested, plopping down onto one of the cushions.

Keith decided to humor him. He kicked off his shoes and nestled into the other cushion. Lance noticed that he was wearing two different colored socks. Normally he would have made a joke about it, but right now he was too busy basking in the idea of Keith being comfortable enough around him to let them show. It was a very simple and small thing, and it didn’t necessarily mean anything, but it still made Lance smile.

“So….” Lance began. “How are things?”

Keith leaned forward and rested his chin on his hands. “I mean you just saw me a couple of hours ago. Not much has happened since then.”

“Oh. Right.”

Lance tapped his fingers against his thigh. He was good at working through his nerves and talking to people on dates, but usually they weren’t people he lived with and saw every day. This was already more difficult than he thought it would be. Somehow he didn’t really mind.

“Are you hungry?” He asked.

Keith’s eyes shot down to the tray sitting between them. His eyes were sparkling with amusement.

“I could eat.”

Lance pulled the lid off of the serving tray. Hunk had managed to make something that resembled lasagne. Two catalogue-perfect stacks of it on pristine white trays.

Lance remembered Keith mentioning a few times that it was his favorite food.

Keith smiled and Lance practically swooned. Keith’s smiles weren’t exactly rare or anything, but they were always so wide and genuine. He didn’t bother with polite encouragement or social niceties. He wouldn’t smile at you just to make you feel better, only when he was truly and honestly happy.

The thought that _he_ could make that happen made Lance’s neck sweat.

“Bon appetit,” Lance said, passing him a plate with surprisingly steady fingers.

“Was thah mean?” Keith asked, his mouth already full.

The corner of Lance’s mouth twitched ever so slightly. “Nothing. Is it good?”

Keith closed his eyes and let his head droop back a little before nodding.

Lance mentally thanked Hunk’s parents and grandparents and basically his entire ancestral line before taking a forkful into his own mouth.

They ate in silence, but it was comfortable. It was just them down here and they had nothing really to prove.

“You look nice,” Keith said after a while. “I didn’t know we were dressing up.”

“Oh, this old thing? It’s nothing.”

His eyes darted down the length of Keith’s body and back up to his face. “You look pretty good yourself.”

They were both blushing and couldn’t meet each other’s eyes.

Lance was first to recover.

“Let’s play twenty questions,” he suggested in an attempt to break the tension.

Keith laughed and looked around at this glorified pillow fort with a challenge in his eyes. “What have you dragged me into McClain? A date, or a sleepover?”

Lance did his best to pretend that his entire body hadn’t thrilled at the word date.

“Are you in or not?”

“I’ll give you five. I don’t think I even have twenty secrets in me.”

“The game isn’t about secrets,” Lance chastised. “It’s about getting to know each other better.”

“Six questions,” Keith conceded.

Lance laughed and leaned back to look at the lights above them, twinkling like stars.

“Deal. You go first.”

Keith thought about it for a moment.

“What’s your middle name?”

“I don’t have one. Do you?”

“Lennard,” Keith said unabashed.

Lance couldn’t suppress a little giggle. “Really?”

Keith fixed him with a look. “At least I have one.”

Lance nodded his agreement. Warm contentment was slowly unfurling in his belly and spreading all throughout his body like maple syrup dripping down a hearty stack of pancakes.

“Why did you really get kicked out of the Garrision?”

“I didn’t. I raided some of the school’s records and found out about what really happened on Kerberos. I couldn’t get over the fact that they’d lied about the existence of aliens. That night I stole one of their hover gliders and disappeared into the desert to search for the aliens myself.”

Lance was surprised, but he knew he shouldn’t be. It was such a Keith thing to do.

“Your turn,” he said calmly.

Keith thought for a moment and asked,  “What are you afraid of?”

“Failure. Not being good enough. You?”

Keith stiffened and Lance was just about to take it back and ask something less personal when Keith whispered, “I’m afraid of being left behind. You could say I’ve got some abandonment issues.”

“Is that why you never talk about your family?”

Keith shrugged. “You can’t talk about what you don’t have. That counts as one of your questions by the way.”

Lance rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. He was just as entranced by honest Keith as he was by mysterious Keith. The emotions felt like they were trying to choke him. It was a bit overwhelming.

“What kind of music do you like?” Keith asked next, trying to steer the conversation in a more neutral direction.

Lance allowed it, prattling on about Beyonce for far longer than he should have, but he was nervous, and Beyonce was a goddess. So.  

Keith didn’t seem to mind. He waited patiently for Lance to finish ranting before remarking that he liked alternative rock and instrumental scores.

The knowledge, though it was mundane, made him feel powerful, as if he’d been entrusted with a secret. It wasn’t one, of course, but Keith so rarely volunteered this kind of information about himself.

“What do you miss most about Earth?” Lance asked.

Keith pondered over it long enough for Lance to get fidgety.

“I miss my cabin,” he said finally. “It probably sounds stupid, but it’s all I’ve got. It’s weird living here in a place that I didn’t have to build or furnish or work hard for.”

Lance gaped. “You’re risking your life everyday. I’d say that some pretty hard work.”

Keith shrugged. “I’m always risking my life. It’s inevitable.” He didn’t give Lance a chance to ask for clarification. “Why did you want to be a pilot?”

“It makes me feel empowered; Like I could be or do anything.”

Lance was slightly embarrassed the moment it was out, but when he looked over, Keith was smiling, no doubt thinking of his own reasons.

“Yeah,” he said, the two of them in complete and perfect agreement for once.

This sense of oneness emboldened Lance to ask a more personal question.

“When did you know you were gay?” He whispered, refusing to look away from his eyes.

Keith tensed for a moment and then relaxed, as if he was remembering who he was with and that he was safe.

“The thought was always there, but I didn’t really accept it until middle school. There was this boy I had a crush on. We used to hold hands in the basement of the orphanage when the nuns sent us down for extra cleaning supplies.”

Lance tried his best not to react to the orphanage part and instead asked for the kid’s name.

“Anthony Dobson.”

Lance nodded. “For me it was Cisco Aguilar. He was my cousin’s Violin teacher. Before him I only liked girls, but he was cute. I couldn’t deny it. My family saw right through me and I came out to them a year later.”

Keith crawled over to Lance’s side and laid down next to him.

“Why didn’t you tell _us_?” He asked.

Lance shrugged. “I’m stuck on a spaceship with you guys. There’s nowhere to go. I didn’t want anything to be awkward.”

Keith looked a little sheepish with the knowledge that he had done just that.

Lance reached over and squeezed his hand. This time, Keith didn’t let go.

Keith took in a deep breath and ran his thumb over Lance’s knuckles. “Why did you invite me down here?”

“Why’d you come?” 

Keith turned onto his side and leaned in close.

“What would you do if I kissed you?”

Lance’s heart was exploding in his chest, but he managed to keep his voice steady as he used up his final question.

“Why don’t you find out?”

Keith obliged. “No more questions,” he hissed against his mouth.

Lance felt himself melting, but he could do nothing to stop it. The world around him had narrowed. Time and space were meaningless. All he could do was hold on for dear life and enjoy the ride.

They parted for just a moment to look into each other’s eyes. Keith’s were hooded and intense and Lance’s were vibrant and alive. They did not stay separated for long.

They kissed until they couldn’t feel, couldn’t think, couldn’t speak. It was like the constant crescendo of their lives had been building up to this exact moment.

Lance never wanted to let go. 

* * *

 

Keith woke up the next morning to the sound of his alarm with light bruises peppering his neck. He gingerly prodded them with his hand and smiled at the memories behind the ache.

He remembered Lance’s bronze skin and wide eyes and easy charm. The feel of his lips and the urgent press of his bony fingers against his hips.

Their first kiss had kind of turned into a series of first kisses…and maybe a little bit more.

And then, right in the thick of it, the lights had exploded and Lance’s bow-tie starting blasting an inappropriate song about pony riding.

They were both pretty startled at first, but then they were on the floor cry-laughing.

They waited patiently for the song to finish and then shared a few more chaste kisses before curling up together in the now dark room and talking about anything and everything way into the wee hours of the morning.

As juvenile as Pidge’s prank was, Keith was grateful. He didn’t want his first time with Lance to be something primal and impulsive.

He wanted it to be special and sweet.

Laughing together, sharing mundane thoughts as if they were as precious as secrets.

That was what last night was all about.

Keith closed his eyes as he remembered all of the glorious little details about his first date with the boy he was in love with and reached out with one arm to silence his alarm.

For the first time in recent memory, he let the happy memories carry him back to sleep.

 

That night at dinner the whole team was discussing strategies for freeing an enslaved planet they were currently hurdling toward when Pidge went in for the kill.

“So. Laaaaaance,” she said mischievously.

Lance slurped at his soup and pretended not to hear her.

“You look a bit different,” she continued. “I hope that you slept well?”

She cast he gaze over at Keith who didn’t even bat an eyelash.

“I did. No thanks to you.”

She raised her eyebrows so far up they looked like they were about to fly right off her face.

“What? You didn’t like the song?”

Lance looked like he was about to leap across the table and strangle her, so Keith placed a calming hand on his shoulder.

“Hey Pidge,” he said with a smirk in her direction. “Stop antagonizing my boyfriend, would you?”

The whole table exploded at once.

Shiro and Allura both burst out with loud echos of, “I knew it!” and “Finally!”

Hunk and Pidge high fived over the table, both wearing huge grins, one sweet and one teasing.

Coran looked back and forth between the two of them as if he was trying to solve a very complex math equation.

“Ooooooooooh,” he said after a moment. “That makes sense.”

Keith laughed and Lance burrowed his head into his shoulder to hide his flaming cheeks.

“I’m so happy for you guys,” Hunk said genuinely.

Keith looked down at the crown of Lance’s head and gave it a soft consoling pat.

“Yeah,” he admitted. “So am I.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I know I could've done better, but I'm honestly just proud of myself for finishing this tbh. Feel free to comment or hit me up on tumblr @retoondant.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this! Honestly I have no idea if it's good or not. I've spent too long on it to tell, but I hope someone got some enjoyment out of it. I really do enjoy fleshing out these characters and their motivations and things like that. I intend to cover the progression of their relationship and how the rest of the team handles the transition, so if you want that don't stop hounding me to write it XD 
> 
> Hit me up on tumblr @retoondant


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